


What the f-

by iarrannme



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Bonding, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 09:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20274040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iarrannme/pseuds/iarrannme
Summary: I just watched Homecoming again last night and felt like procrastinating today, so: the next few minutes that movie left to our imaginations.  May figures some things out and has some Opinions; a hint about what her first interaction with Happy might have been like; a tiny foreshadowing for MJ; Peter gets some support.





	What the f-

“What the _fuck_-”

Peter's elated sense of rightness vanished immediately. He forced himself to turn. “Um. Hi, May.”

Her face changed. He realized she’d been fighting to fool herself that Spider-Man just happened to be in her nephew’s room, _Hi, ma’am, sorry to startle you, just stopping by, we all miss Peter since the internship fell through, how coincidentally similar my build and hair are to his! Ha ha! Need any kittens rescued, ma’am?_

She put a shaking hand to the doorway. He recognized her posture and sudden exhalation: exactly what happened to him every time a fight wound up with him getting socked in the gut.

He crossed to her quickly and wrapped his arms around her. “May, it’s ok, I’m fine, I heal really fast, I promise, I’m fine.”

She took a deep breath. “I. Have. Already. _Lost_ –”

“I know, I know, that’s why I didn’t want to worry you, but it’s fine, really, I have super-fast reflexes, and I’m really strong, and I know when danger’s coming, and I heal just, just crazy-fast, it’s fine, it’s –”

“Zip it! Peter, it is _not_ fine. Do you think I don’t watch the news? I saw that crashed plane! The beach was on fire! For a mile! You were part of that? Fighting some entire _gang_ with illegal alien weapons!”

“It was just the one guy –”

“Stop minimizing it! Those things cut an entire ferry in half, are you telling me they wouldn’t kill you?”

He couldn’t say anything.

She closed her eyes. “Everybody thinks they’re immortal, Peter. Do you think I didn’t hear ‘it’ll be fine!’ from B–” She stopped, pressing her lips together.

He hugged her tightly. He could feel her breathing, trying not to cry. “I know, May. I’m – I’m sorry.”

“That was you on the ferry.”

He nodded.

“And the bank robbery.”

He nodded.

“And in Washington. With a god. Damn. Alien. _Bomb_.”

He nodded.

Her voice was tight. “Exactly how many other times with alien weapons have there been?”

No glossing things over; it would all come out at the trial anyway. “The bomb was from another weapon I took off a gang member, uh, the night you drove me to Liz’s party? Oh and one guy had this super-puncher thing. Uh. That’s all though. It was all that same gang, so … that’s stopped, now.”

She was beyond furious. “So you weren’t just hiding this from me in general, you were actively lying to me and using me as – as fucking _transport_ for your fucking dangerous _shenanigans_ –”

“No! No, May, it wasn’t like that, I swear! I really did go to Liz’s party! That’s all I meant to do! I just, I was outside and I saw the weapon discharge in the distance –”

“And you just happened to have your Spider-Man suit with you.” Narrowed eyes.

“N--, um.” She was standing up on her own. He let go and stepped back, scratching the back of his neck. “I had it on under my clothes, because … Ned was trying to convince me to use it –”

Her eyes widened in new anger. “You told Ned and you didn’t tell me?”

“No! No, he figured it out, uh, that night we went out for Thai? When I snuck back in he was already here and –”

She sighed. “That’s why you were just in box- that was the night that alien thing nearly cut the bodega in half!”

“Yeah, but nobody got hurt, May! Mr. Delmar is fine, his cat is fine, the robbers are fine, I –”

“I don’t care about the damn robbers or the stupid cat or –” She clenched her jaw and forced herself to calm. She even managed the barest breath of a laugh. “God, you’re so much like Ben.”

He swallowed. She didn’t talk about Ben much. Or any of her losses, usually. “I – I love you too, May.” He returned to her for another hug. “I love you so much, I’m sorry, I – Mr. Stark asked me today to be part of the Avengers, but I –”

“Mr. Stark asked you to be an –” Her voice rose steadily with each word, and he tensed, sure he’d have to put a hand over her mouth – any New Yorker could ignore an occasional “what the fuck” from a neighboring apartment, but _Mr. Stark asked you to be an Avenger???_ would be something else entirely – but she saw the panic in his face and chopped herself off.

“I said no, May! I said no. I...I need to just…be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man for a while first, you know? All this lately has been…really a lot.”

She hugged him back, finally, for a long moment, then stepped back, hands on his shoulders, to look at him. “It’s not just alien weapons that can kill you, is it?”

“Uh – well, no, but…it’s pretty hard.”

“Could you actually have pulled the ferry back together and held it? If Iron Man hadn’t shown up?”

“I…I’m not sure.”

“On the video ... you were screaming.”

“I…yeah.”

The tears she hadn’t shed yet ran silently, and she pulled him back into a hug. “Oh, sweetheart.”

He let himself bury his face in her neck and accept the comforting he hadn’t been able to ask anyone else for. “It hurt so bad but I didn’t know what else to do and I couldn’t just let all those people – I knew other boats were coming but there had to be people who couldn’t swim or, or someone’s cat–” He laughed a little shakily. “I’d tried and tried to tell Happy – uh, Mr. Stark’s head of security – what was going on with the weapons but he just wouldn’t listen – I thought –”

She was putting things together. “That’s the day you lost the – oh. _This_ was the Stark internship. You lost it because Mr. Stark was angry about the ferry?”

“Because I tried to handle it myself, and I wasn’t ready, and so many people could have died if he hadn’t been there to fix my mess.” He felt the shame and loss all over again, and wasn’t prepared for her to pull back and narrow her eyes – angry, but not at him.

“_Your_ mess? You mean, the extraordinarily difficult situation you tried to handle because other people didn’t tell you they were going to? That mess?”

“Uh –”

“Yeah, I knew I wasn’t a fan of Mr. Stark.”

He opened his mouth for some automatic defense of Iron Man, but…hadn’t he very nearly yelled at Mr. Stark himself for the same reason? He sighed. “He does care about me, May. And he believes in me. Now.”

She grimaced but let it go, intent on another point. “Peter, how did it feel to find out too late what they’d kept from you?” She gave him only a moment to remember. “If you’d been torn apart trying to keep that damn ferry together, or killed in the plane crash or god knows whenever else, were you just going to disappear from my life and I’d never even know whether you were alive or dead? Was Mr. Stark going to show up here and tell me oh did you see the news about Spider-Man, yeah actually that was your nephew?”

He couldn’t meet her gaze.

“I understand why you didn’t tell me. You love me, you wanted to spare me worry, you thought I’d never let you out of my sight again. Yes?”

He nodded.

“That only works if you really are invincible or always lucky. But let me tell you, mister, that in either scenario, I'd've gone through _far. Fucking. Worse_. Than anything you could save me from by hiding from me.”

He swallowed and nodded.

She let out a long breath. “Loss and pain and grief aren’t fun, Peter, but they’re inevitable. I won't try to forbid you from being Spider-Man. That would only force you to keep trying to deceive me, or if you did stop to protect my feelings, that would be – it'd be wrong.”

“I hated hiding all this from you. I – I need someone to talk to about it.” He half-smiled. “I mean, an adult. Ned’s – I’m really glad he knows too, but – Mr. Stark wasn’t totally wrong, I wasn’t ready for everything. I’m needed, though. Spider-Man’s needed.”

She snorted. “Yeah, lotta cats getting stuck in high places these days. Look, I’m glad you’ve got Ned, and I’m sorry Liz had to move so suddenly.” She saw his flinch. “Did she know?”

“N-no.” He knew she could tell there was more going on there.

She put her hand on the side of his face. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry you have that loss on top of everything else. Someday I hope you get to be with someone you _can_ tell.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Liz _Toomes_.”

He nodded.

“The news said Toomes was the name of the guy – and that was the night of Homecoming – and you were moving like an old man the day after, I thought you’d just really let loose at the party, except you looked miserable, I figured the date hadn’t gone how you’d hoped –”

The half-breath out hurt too much to be laughter, but it _was_ almost funny how right she was.

She squeezed his shoulders and stood back. “Let’s bring Thai take-out back here and you can tell me all of it, all right?”

He took a breath and let it out. “Thanks, May.”

She nodded, sobering. “I know high school isn’t a time where you want or need to tell me everything. But you _will_ give me contact info for Mr. Stark and – Happy? I’ve got things to say to _him_. And trust me enough to tell me the important things, ok? If you’re going to live this life – don’t do it alone.” She stepped back out of his doorway and paused. “I’m scared, I’m hurt, I’m mad and you’re not out of trouble yet, young man, but – I love you and I’m proud of you.” A half grin. “And maybe put some – some _different_ clothes on.”

She shut his door behind her as he snagged his clothes off the floor. The hole where he’d put all his hopes about Liz still felt big and empty and painful. Why couldn’t he have super-healing for that, too? He narrowly missed stepping on a Lego piece – left over from Ned’s moment of shock – and pocketed it to give back. Yeah, ok, it would be nice to relax around Ned and May. And – what was that paper stuck in his backpack?

A scrawled note: _You better not disappear from any practices or competitions while I’m Captain. Loser._ On the drawing of him looking miserable in detention.

He smiled. All right. A friend on the normal side would be ok, too.

He stuffed the note back into his pack and went out to join May.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always welcome - I really appreciate your feedback!


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